Everyone knows what New York is most infamous for. Don’t you? The Big Apple. New York City.
As of 2024, about 65 million people visited New York City. Isn’t that crazy? What about Long Island? Not as many people come to visit, unless it is to have a fun summer in the Hamptons or even Fire Island. What about a small town in Suffolk County…Amityville?
Amityville is the first town in Suffolk County, located on the South Shore of Long Island, known for a truly haunting story. The Amityville Horror House. Have you ever heard of this?
It is completely unimaginable yet completely true.
On November 13th, 1974 Ronald DeFeo, age 24, murdered his entire family in their sleep. All
four siblings, and both parents. The oldest sibling, Dawn DeFeo was 18, Allison DeFeo was 13, Marc DeFeo was 12, and John Matthew DeFeo, was only 9. His parents, Ronald DeFeo Sr. was 43, as well as Louise DeFeo. How chilling is that? 112 Ocean Avenue became the center of attention in Amityville for the next decades to follow.
Have you ever visited the Amityville Horror House, or know someone who lives nearby? Ocean Ave is always filled with tourists walking the streets during the summer, more commonly on Halloween night because of its infamous story.
Mrs. McKenna, an English teacher in Amityville Memorial High School, is a local to the area! Although she has only been teaching in Amityville for just a handful of years, she is now teaching one of the newly offered elective classes – Once Upon A Crime, recently, covering a Amityville Horror Unit where students learned about the case, watched the Amityville Horror – 1979, and were tasked with a creative reflection project covering the choices of a crime report, presentation, or essay. I had the chance to ask her a few questions regarding the infamous murder.
As a local to the area, she has gone and seen the house itself! As a matter of fact, McKenna and her husband visited the infamous house when they first moved near the area! Even if it was being sold for free, many would not move into that house, including Mrs. McKenna and her family. I would be a little creeped out too from all of the stories, visitors and tricking myself into thinking something is haunted.
Of course, there are multiple movies out that re-make the horror story, some more fabricated than others. The Amityville Horror – 2005, starring Ryan Gosling features a completely fabricated story which mainly focuses on a nearby street in the neighborhood – Ketcham Ave and creates the idea of a witch named ketcham and that the house was built on an old burial ground. There was a man by that name, but was not a witch or a part of the Amity Horror. If there was a character in a movie based off of you and it was a total lie, wouldn’t you want to take action and possibly sue? If it happened today, there would most likely be a legal case. McKenna also believes that the house is haunted, but not in the traditional or commonly thought way of ghosts. Similarly, the movie did not portray ghosts but rather spiritual control and tauntings.
Do you believe that haunted houses are truly real? Or is everything made up for clout?
